My Life in the Bush of Wombatshttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/
My Life in the Bush of Wombats - LiveJournal.comkjm@panix.comSat, 26 Mar 2016 04:47:20 GMTLiveJournal / LiveJournal.comwomzilla808939personalhttp://l-userpic.livejournal.com/3274204/808939My Life in the Bush of Wombatshttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/
9595http://womzilla.livejournal.com/330318.htmlSat, 26 Mar 2016 04:47:20 GMTSome comics worthy of consideration for 2015kjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/330318.html
I am hurrying to get my Hugo nominations in (deadline is March 31!) and made up this list of the f/sf comics stories that came out/wrapped up in 2015: <br /><br /><i>Bitch Planet Book One</i> (issues 1-5), Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro<br /><i>Bizzaro</i> (issues 1-6), Heath Corson, Gustavo Duarte, et al<br /><i>Book of Death: Fall of Harbinger</i>, Joshua Dysart, Kano, et al.<br /><i>Colder: The Bad Seed</i>, Paul Tobin and Juan Ferreyra<br /><i>Conan the Avenger: Blood Oasis</i> (<i>Conan the Avenger</i> issues 16-19), Fred van Lente, Brian Ching, et al<br /><i>Crossed Plus 100 vol. 1</i> (issues 1-6), Alan Moore, Gabriel Andrade, et al.<br /><i>Empowered</i> vol. 9, Adam Warren<br /><i>Heart in a Box</i>, Kel Thompson and Meredith McClaren<br /><i>Here</i>, Richard McGuire<br /><i>Kaijumax Season One</i> (issues 1-6), Zander Cannon<br /><i>Knights of the Dinner Table: The Pwn Brian Express</i> (through issue 222), Jolly Blackburn et al<br />Ms Marvel: Final Days, G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona<br /><i>Mind MGMT</i> (complete series), Matt Kindt<br /><i>Prez: Corndog-in-Chief</i>, Mark Russell, Ben Caldwell, and Mark Morales<br /><i>Private Eye</i>, Bryan K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin<br /><i>Sandman: Overture</i>, Neil Gaiman and J. H. Williams III<br /><i>Satellite Sam</i>, Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin<br /><i>Sculptor</i>, Scott McCloud<br /><i>Secret Wars: Siege</i>, Kieron Gillen, Filipe Andrade, et al.<br /><i>Silver Surfer: Last Days</i> (issues 11-15), Dan Slott and Mike Allred<br /><i>Southern Cross</i>, Becky Cloonan and Andy Belanger<br /><i>The Life After</i> vol. 2, Joshua Hale Fialkov and Gabo<br /><i>Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel You Know It's True</i>, Ryan North and Erica Henderson<br /><i>Unwritten: Apocalypse</i>, Mike Carey and Peter Gross<br /><i>Wayward: Ties that Bind</i> (issues 6-10), Jim Zub and Steven Cummings<br /><i>Wicked and the Divine: Commercial Suicide</i> (issues 12-17), Kieron Gillen, Jaime McKelvie, and many artists<br /><br />I'm disappointed in myself that so few of the comics here are written by women (just 4 out of 26). I did read a lot of other comics written by women that didn't quite make this list, but I honestly would have expected better than 15% in my long list.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/330318.htmlLektro Spektral Daze, "Infinite Number of Steps"Lektro Spektral Daze, "Infinite Number of Steps"comcialpublic3http://womzilla.livejournal.com/330073.htmlThu, 01 Jan 2015 05:10:29 GMTComics Read, 2014kjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/330073.html
In 2014, I read 1,281 comics on 254 separate days. <br /><br />Jeez.<br /><br />Later this month (it is now January), I will endeavor to suggest some titles for the Best Graphic Story Hugo award. Once again, there is an abundance of good material.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/330073.htmlpublic0http://womzilla.livejournal.com/329806.htmlMon, 08 Sep 2014 03:55:21 GMT#GamerGate, a righteous rant, and not forgettingkjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/329806.html
The following text was written by my friend <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Costikyan" rel="nofollow">Greg Costikyan</a> and posted to <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/GregCostikyan/951623/" rel="nofollow">his blog at Gamasutra</a>. It was then deleted by Gamasutra. If Greg asks me to take it down, I will do so. <br /><br />If you don't know what #GamerGate refers to and feel a morbid interest in the privilege-laden cruelty of the worst of the gaming community, I'd recommend starting with <a href="http://badassdigest.com/2014/08/26/video-games-misogyny-and-terrorism-a-guide-to-assholes/" rel="nofollow">Video Games, Misogyny, and Terrorism: A Guide to Assholes</a> and stopping there, too, then taking a long shower and, upon emerging, playing a good game with someone you love. <br /><br /> <blockquote><b>Gamersgate: STFU</b><br />by Greg Costikyan on 09/07/14 12:55:00 am<br /><br />"As a male voice in the game industry," writes my daughter Vicky, "you should speak out about this."<br /><br />Ouch.<br /><br />I wanted to hold my tongue. Because when I let loose, it usually does me no favors. But she's right.<br /><br />WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?<br /><br />What do you think you're defending? An industry in which greed-head executives make brain-dead games on a yearly basis that show little to no innovation from one title to the next? You fucking -want- Madden? And the next Call of Duty game, same as the last but with new content from hundreds of exploited drones working hours that destroy relationships because the suits think that's what they want?<br /><br />For decades, we had a market that catered to Maxim-reading horny boy-men who bought games by developers who spent man-years on developing better physics to make tits bounce in the next beach volleyball title. For decades, we had shameless manager jackasses who thought the best way to market their titles was to hire high-breasted bimbos to pose and giggle at their booths at E3.<br /><br />For decades, we had the best creative minds of our industry SHUT DOWN whenever they proposed the slightest design innovation, because increasing budgets meant all design risk must be minimized.<br /><br />For decades, we had no way for people who wanted to do anything creative be able to find any path to market.<br /><br />Finally, finally, and thank god, we have a viable path of market for indies, and a way for people who want to express themselves through games that will never sell in the millions to find a market. And you find that a PROBLEM?<br /><br />What kind of blinkered idiots you are?<br /><br />And of course, indies do whatever the fuck they can to get noticed, because they don't have MILLIONS OF MARKETING DOLLARS TO SPEND. What the fuck would you expect?<br /><br />Let me explain something do you. Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision: Mutimillionare. Anna Anthrophy? Stroppy indie developer who probably has problems paying her rent. Who has the power here? What the fuck are you talking about?<br /><br />There's some kind of conspiracy by the in-group to promote indie games at the expense of "real" games? What the fuck are you talking about? Who cares who Zoe Quinn fucked, or didn't fuck? It's none of your fucking business, unless you were one of the people involved, and most of you would give your left kidney to fuck her, if you had any brains. You are unlikely ever to touch anyone with an iota of her talent or intelligence.<br /><br />And what does that even mean? Have you suddenly noticed that the game industry is undergoing weird changes as a result of this supposed conspiracy? The next Call of Duty being cancelled in favor of triple-A treatment of the next Anna Anthropy design?<br /><br />Do people who actually care about whether games can be more than degraded violence porn for young men sometimes get together and talk about games that actually matter? And do they sometimes write about such games?<br /><br />You're fucking right they do! And you should be fucking grateful that someday a more mature and interesting landscape of videogames may emerge from that! That's not what we call "conspiracy;" that's what we call "gamers who care about games."<br /><br />And what is it with this mysoginistic bullshit?<br /><br />I want to tell you some stories.<br /><br />1. The studio head who invited me -and a female employee- to join them at a strip club at a conference, expecting we would all enjoy this as a 'fun time.'<br /><br />2. The party given by an industry marketing firm where I and Dan Scherlis were approached by a scantily clad woman who was evidently hired to show their clients a good time (not necessarily including actual fornication) and had to explain that we were both involved with people we cared about, and actually were having a perfectly enjoyable time talking to each other.<br /> <br />3. The -very- gay friend of mine who was hired by another firm and started sweating when I approached their booth at a conference, in fear that I would reveal his sexual orientation to his new boss.<br /><br />4. My friend, Dan Bunten, a seminal figure in early PC gaming, who decided he was a woman, and after extensive surgery, became Danielle Bunten Berry. "Shabbily treated" wouldn't even begin to describe it.<br /><br />I have no idea why gender and such is even an issue in this conversation. Women have always been a minority in the games industry, to its loss; but they have never been entirely missing. Roberta Williams created the Sierra adventures. Brenda Garno, later Brathwaite, later Romero, was one of the key talents behind the Wizardry series.<br /><br />If you look at recent IGDA surveys, 80+% of all jobs in the industry are held by men. This is a problem, particularly as industry surveys say that a majority of gamers are women. To be sure, they're playing Candy Crush and not Call of Duty, and maybe that doesn't qualify as a "real game" to you, but if so, fuck off. Games are games, games are good, and it's great that more people are playing them. Stop masturbating with your console controller and get a life.<br /><br />Anita Sirkeesian has told some pretty obvious truths about the treatment of women in games; controversial ones, and others are free to debate them, but "debate" doesn't normally involve threats to rape or kill.<br /><br />You can like, or not like, Zoe Quinn's work; tastes vary. But her sex life is not, and never has been, any of your fucking business.<br /><br />Leigh Alexander is one of the most interesting journalists working in games.<br /><br />This is bullshit, you are assholes, and shut the fuck up.<br /><br />Deal with the fact that not all games are, or will be in the future, the same corporate crap that you apparently love so much. And understand that the money-grubbing entities who dole out this crap will continue to feed your fix, because it's a far larger market than is reached by the indie people, whom you despise and spit on, can possibly ever hope to reach.<br /><br />You're attacking people who have problems making their rent, apparently in defense of people who make millions off your fanboy lusts; and somehow feel threatened by people who love games -- as I supposed you do -- but love games that are a little different.<br /><br />You are assholes.<br /><br />Worse, you are poor examples of men. Men, good men, defend women. They do not attack them.<br /><br />To which end: To defend the honor of Anita Sirkeesian, Zoe Quinn, Leigh Alexander, or yes, Anna Anthropy, I will be willing to meet any of you, on horse or afoot, with sword or pistol, at a time and place of your choosing.<br /><br />It is time this stopped.</blockquote>http://womzilla.livejournal.com/329806.html"Start Again", Bishop Allen"Start Again", Bishop Allenexhausted by angerpublic2http://womzilla.livejournal.com/329722.htmlFri, 25 Jul 2014 00:43:53 GMTOn the TV, me and nelloratkjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/329722.html
While we were gone at <a href="http://detcon1.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">DetCon1</a>, I got an e-mail from Drew <s>Breese</s> Beebe, a reporter at Bloomberg TV, who had been assigned to do an article on comics to tie in with Comic-Con International (aka the Sandy Eggo Comic-Con). He had come across my name in a <i>Bloomberg Business Week</i> <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-30/those-comics-in-your-basement-probably-worthless" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">article from last year</a> about comics fans my age discovering that their collections were, in fact, almost worthless. He wanted to do a piece about comics collecting, with some discussion of the financial aspects but ranging over as many subjects as I felt comfortable discussing. <br /><br />Given that I am an attention whore whose primary mode of discourse is the lecture, I was happy to oblige, so Tuesday night we rendezvoused at <a href="http://www.carminestreetcomics.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Carmine Street Comics</a>, my Friendly Neighborhood Comics Shop and the store that has the portion of our collection that is for sale. We talked and filmed for about 4 hours, at Carmine Street, in his car, and within Valentine's Castle. Most of the discussion at home was me solo in my study, but <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " data-ljuser="nellorat" lj:user="nellorat" ><a href="http://nellorat.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=143.8" /></a><a href="http://nellorat.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>nellorat</b></a></span> joined us in the basement to show off the comics-filled filing cabinets. <br /><br />I will confess that I had some fear of being made ridiculous (well, more ridiculous than usual), but Drew called back on Wednesday with a follow-up question about the collapse of the industry in 1994-95 that he would only have asked if he were serious about the subject. <br /><br />The piece <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/video/see-comic-book-superfan-s-30-000-issue-investment-U0AKz9GZTMmB4Bi23hgwDA.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">went live on Bloomberg TV this morning</a> and I'm very impressed at how it came out. It's really well-edited, both in the sense of finding many of my most interesting and concise statements and in the juxtapositions of words and image when it's not just my talking head. <br /><br />nellorat points out that the article doesn't convey the degree to which we are also drowning in books, fanzines, stuffed toys, <i>et cetera, et cetera, et cetera</i>, though he did manage to work in a reference to the ratties! <br /><br />Go, enjoy. <br /><br />Footnotes: It is in fact very unlikely that I have spent $100,000 (net) on comics, even if you lump in things like traveling to comics conventions. However, the figure is closer to $100K than I care to admit. Of course, we moved to New York so that I could pursue a job in comics which never materialized; that cost quite a lot of money. <i>Deathmate</i>, which triggered the collapse of the comics industry in the 1990s, finished in early 1994; the Marvel bankruptcy was about 2 years later, not quite as immediately as I implied. I did not woo nellorat with <i>Swamp Thing</i>; she had rediscovered that on her own (though I did, many moons later, get her a copy of #20, Alan Moore's first issue, which precedes "The Anatomy Lesson").http://womzilla.livejournal.com/329722.html"Don't Change", INXS"Don't Change", INXScomicalpublic9http://womzilla.livejournal.com/329431.htmlThu, 24 Jul 2014 02:27:41 GMTOn the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the publication of the first Batman storykjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/329431.html
I remember <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " data-ljuser="nellorat" lj:user="nellorat" ><a href="http://nellorat.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=143.8" /></a><a href="http://nellorat.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>nellorat</b></a></span> once saying words to the effect of, “Christianity would be much better if it focused on the image of <i>La Pietà</i> instead of obsessing on the Crucifixion.” <br /> <br />I feel the same way about “<a href="http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Detective_Comics_Vol_1_457" rel="nofollow">There Is No Hope in Crime Alley</a>” vis-à-vis <i>The Dark Knight Returns</i>. <br /> <br />Happy Batman day, Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff, Denny O’Neil and Dick Giordano, for all we, the superstitious and cowardly lot. <br /><br />(This is not the <a href="http://www.exquisitetweets.com/tweets?eids=ibFnKvZIce.ibFx0l2eQe.ibFBg1Dbau" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">most pretentious thing I have ever written about comics</a>.)http://womzilla.livejournal.com/329431.html"Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)", Tom Waits"Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)", Tom Waitshopefulpublic0http://womzilla.livejournal.com/329140.htmlFri, 18 Jul 2014 03:54:32 GMTStuff to read on Marvel Unlimitedkjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/329140.html
Marvel Unlimited is Marvel's subscription-based digital comics service. It has an astonishing range of back issues available (as well as more recent issues) in an all-you-can-eat format. <br /><br />What are the indispensable runs at Marvel? In rough order of importance, here are my top 10: <br /><br /><ul><br /><li>Ditko/Lee: <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #1-38, Annual #1<br /><li>Kirby/Lee: <i>Fantastic Four</i> #1-51, Annual #1-2<br /><li>Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne: <i>X-Men</i>, Giant-Sized #1, #94-150. <br /><li>Gerber/Brunner/Colan: <i>Howard the Duck</i> #1-27, #29, Annual #1, and the 2 short stories from <i>Giant-Sized Man-Thing</i> #4 and #5<br /><li>Simonson (w/Buscema): <i>Thor</i> #337-372<br /><li>Starlin's Warlock: <i>Strange Tales</i> #178-181, <i>Warlock</i> #9-15, <i>Avengers Annual</i> #7, <i>Marvel Two-in-One Annual</i> #2<br /><li>Englehart/Brown <i>et al</i>.: <i>Avengers</i> #105-141, <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #2-4<br /><li>Miller (w/Jansen) <i>Daredevil</i> #168-191<br /><li>Steranko's Nick Fury: <i>Strange Tales</i> #151-168, <i>Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D</i> #1-5, <br /><li>Priest/various artists, <i>Black Panther</i> #1-62<br /></ul><br /><br />(I'm trying not to repeat characters or creators or else easy inclusions would be Ditko/Lee's Doctor Strange in <i>Strange Tales</i>; Gerber's <i>Defenders</i> and <i>Man-Thing</i>; Stern/Romita's <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i>; or Lee/Romita's <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i>. I'm also very partial to Peter Gillis's run on Doctor Strange, which spanned the final issues of the first <i>Dr. Strange</i> series, the 1980s <i>Strange Tales</i> split-book, and the first few issues of the second <i>Dr Strange</i> series. The Moench/Gulacy/Day/<i>et al.</i> <i>Master of Kung Fu</i> absolutely should be in the list, but it's not available through Marvel Unlimited.)http://womzilla.livejournal.com/329140.htmlcomicalpublic7http://womzilla.livejournal.com/328794.htmlSun, 30 Mar 2014 04:36:58 GMTBest Graphic Novel Hugo suggestions for 2013kjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/328794.html
I'm sure I'm the last person to prepare a nominating ballot, but here are <strike>19</strike> 18 sf/f/h comics stories that were completed in 2013 that I suggest to your memory: <br /><br /><i>Alabaster: Wolves</i>, Caitlin Kiernan & Steve Lieber<br /><i>Archer & Armstrong: Far Faraway</i>, Fred Van Lente & Pere Perez<br /><i>BEDLAM vol. 1</i>, Nick Spencer & Riley Rossmo<br /><i>Chew: Bad Apples</i>, John Layman & Rob Guillory<br /><i>Colder</i>, Paul Tobin & Juan Ferreyra<br /><i>Dial H: Exchange</i>, China Mieville & Mateus Santolouco<br /><i>Doctor Who: The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who</i>, Paul Cornell & Jimmy Broxton<br /><i>Empowered Volume 8</i>, Adam Warren<br /><i>Glory: War Torn</i>, Joe Keatinge & Ross Campbell<br /><i>Leaving Megalopolis</i>, Gail Simone & Joe Califiore<br /><i>Locke and Key: Alpha and Omega</i>, Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez<br /><i>Mind MGMT: The Futurist</i>, Matt Kindt<br /><i>Morning Glories Season 1</i>, Nick Spencer & Joe Eisma<br /><i>Prophet: Empire</i>, Brandon Graham & Simon Roy<br /><i>Saucer Country: The Reticulan Candidate</i>, Paul Cornell & Ryan Kelly<br /><i>Storm Dogs</i>, David Hine & Doug Braithwaite<br /><i>Uber vol. 1</i>, Kieron Gillen & Canaan White<br /><i>Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Ship that Sank Twice</i>, Michael Carey & Peter Gross<br /><strike><i>You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack</i>, Tom Gauld<br /><br />(The Tom Gauld is actually a collection of single-page cartoons, but I'm pretty sure it still qualifies.)</strike><br /><br /><i>ETA</i>: I forgot about the Doctor Who comic because, although it came out on December 31, I didn't read it until the following week; thus it wasn't in my list of comics I read in 2013.<br /><br /><i>ETA</i> again: I guess the Gauld isn't a "story" in any meaningful sense, so I'm nominating it for "Related Work" instead.<br /><br />Going to be tough narrowing that down to 5.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/328794.html"I Shall Be Released", Bob Dylan"I Shall Be Released", Bob Dylanwore outpublic2http://womzilla.livejournal.com/328672.htmlWed, 28 Aug 2013 03:22:18 GMTAlso, NYRSF 300kjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/328672.html
We made it to issue 300, which is available free at our online publisher <a href="http://weightlessbooks.com/format/new-york-review-of-science-fiction-300/" rel="nofollow">Weightless Books</a>. Go get a copy, and please spread the word. Thanks!http://womzilla.livejournal.com/328672.html"I'm Free", The Who"I'm Free", The Whogiftishpublic1http://womzilla.livejournal.com/328210.htmlWed, 28 Aug 2013 03:17:38 GMTTexas, so farkjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/328210.html
My grandmother had a younger brother, Manny, who (with his lovely wife Katrina) had seven children. Five of my cousins* live in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and have been asking me to come visit them for, I exaggerate not at all, 27 years. Well, I'm finally here. <br /><br />*Strictly speaking, they are my first-cousins-once-removed, but screw that. Cousins it is. <br /><br />I am staying with cousin Wanda and her husband Ken in Southlake; they took me out for some superb BBQ at Feedstore BBQ on South White Chapel Blvd, which apparently really was a feed store that sold BBQ on the side until they realized where their strengths really lay. The ribs are among the best BBQ ribs I've ever had, and the fries and fried okra were very strong as well.<br /><br />Today, my cousin Sylvia and her husband Roy took me to the one tourist attraction I really was not going to miss: Dealey Plaza. We spent about 15 minutes walking the site--the locations of the limousine on Elm Street are helpfully marked with Xs, and there were information hobos helpfully pointing out interesting things like the rail switching tower from which Lee Bowers thought he saw smoke behind the wall atop the Grassy Knoll. I stood by the pylon from which Zapruder made his film and realized that if someone HAD been shooting from there, he would have had to have known--he was, like, 5 feet away from the wall himself. So that was informative. Then we took the tour of the <a href="http://www.jfk.org/" rel="nofollow">Sixth Floor Museum</a>, which was surprisingly great. Besides the thrill of morbid authenticity of seeing the sniper's nest and the approximate view a shooter there would have had (you can't look out sniper's window, but you can look out an adjacent one), the museum itself is an extremely well-made JFK retrospective, covering his entire life, death, and legacy as well as the rounds of examination of the assassination. Display objects are well-chosen (e.g., cameras like those carried by the various witnesses; actual teletype rolls); the descriptions on the objects are well-written and fair; there are several extremely good short films on the subjects. <br /><br />The exhibit doesn't flinch from the assassination; in one of the best pieces of the museum, a short hallway has stills from the Zapruder film on one wall and stills from another film from a reverse angle on the opposite wall. (I think this is the Nix film.) The exhibit presents a wide variety of alternate interpretations respectfully, if briefly. All in all, time and money very well-spent, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to one and all.<br /><br />Tomorrow we are going to Fort Worth's landmark Mexican restaurant Joe T. Garcia's, and then I'm taking a bus to Austin. I'll be there overnight and then head down to San Antonio on Thursday for Worldcon.<br /><br />My cousins are wonderful hosts, and it has been great spending many uninterrupted hours in their company, getting more of a sense of them as individuals. I highly recommend sharing ancestors with them.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/328210.html"The Bullet & Big D", Bishop Allen"The Bullet & Big D", Bishop Allentraveledpublic3http://womzilla.livejournal.com/327997.htmlTue, 09 Jul 2013 04:16:00 GMTA note about the first Iron Man filmkjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/327997.html
While writing a long comment to <a href="http://notthebeastmaster.typepad.com/weblog/2013/06/men-of-steel.html" rel="nofollow">Marc Singer's very perceptive short essay on <i>Man of Steel</i></a>, I made this aside: <br /><br /><blockquote>The first <i>Iron Man</i> movie made me realize that I have exhausted my tolerance for superhero stories where the good guy wins just by being a little more gooder, or more strongerer, or because the story has to be shaped that way.</blockquote><br /><br />Note that Singer's essay and my comments both have some discussion of significant plot surprises for MoS. <br /><br />To elaborate on that aside (massive spoilers ahead for <i>Iron Man</i>): <br /><br />In <i>Iron Man</i>, the big fight has two climaxes: Tony Stark leads Obadiah Stane into the stratosphere, where Stane's suit ices up, an established problem with the early generation of the suits. Stane appears to die, but shockingly surprises Tony on the ground; Tony manages to fuddle his way through the fight until Pepper blows up the rooftop reactor at Stark Industries, killing Stane and nearly killing Tony. <br /><br />The script gets the two climaxes of the fight scene in exactly the wrong order. Blowing up the reactor should have come first, with Stark and Stane miraculously both barely surviving with badly damaged armor. THEN Stark should have lead the chase into to the stratosphere that iced up Stane's suit; Stane falls, inferior suit shatters, Stane dies. Stark could even try to save Stane as he falls, but oops, the fight has left his suit so badly damaged that he just can't catch him. In this ordering of events, Stark wins by virtue of his defining trait--he's the best inventor in the world--and Stane dies of his own malice. <br /><br />By the way, I'm still alive and posting frequently on Twitter. (<a href="https://twitter.com/womzilla" rel="nofollow">@womzilla</a>).http://womzilla.livejournal.com/327997.html"Particle Man", TMBG"Particle Man", TMBGwhy am I up this late?public0http://womzilla.livejournal.com/327838.htmlSat, 27 Apr 2013 20:32:37 GMTAnother Medical "Vacation"kjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/327838.html
Last Friday, I started noticing occasional pain in my left ribcage and shortness of breath. <a href="http://womzilla.livejournal.com/41009.html?thread=100657" rel="nofollow">For reasons I've explained at length before</a>, these are worrying symptoms, but they were so intermittent that I didn't reach the obvious conclusion. I was also occasionally coughing. <br /> <br />Well. By Wednesday evening, the pain and the shortness of breath were much more undeniable and were accompanied by thoughts of impending doom--the embolism trifecta. So when I got home--after a very uncomfortable train ride from Grand Central--I informed <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " data-ljuser="supergee" lj:user="supergee" ><a href="http://supergee.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=143.8" /></a><a href="http://supergee.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>supergee</b></a></span> & <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " data-ljuser="nellorat" lj:user="nellorat" ><a href="http://nellorat.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=143.8" /></a><a href="http://nellorat.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>nellorat</b></a></span> that I needed to go to the emergency room. I had intended to drive myself, but Nellorat said, "Call an ambulance--I'm not going to have you stopping breathing on the way." <br /> <br />The ambulance was there pretty quickly. I walked in, laid down on the stretcher, and they gave me oxygen and asked me questions. The key question, that hadn't occurred to me, was "Does it hurt when I touch you <b>here</b>?"--with "here" being a muscle group immediately to the left of my left nipple. Holy shit, did it ever! And it was clearly muscle pain, not pain within the lung. Which, frankly, solved the entire question, as far as I was concerned. <br /> <br />On Monday last (April 15), my ear/nose/throat doctor gave me a steroid shot in the hope that it would reduce my allergic response. I'm strongly allergic to aspergillum mold and mildly allergic to rat urine. The injection was quick and painless, but I've been sore at the injection site, my left triceps, ever since. <br /> <br />What I hadn't realized was that the pain was spreading to other muscles on my left side, especially in the shoulder and the chest. When the EMT touched the muscle (pretty sure it's the pectoralis major), he made me realize exactly how much pain I was carrying through the surface. I was in pain, yes, and breathing shallowly as a result. <br /> <br />But by that point, I had started down the ER path, and it wasn't really possible to step off. N. met me at the hospital, for which I'm eternally grateful. I was checked in, put on a bed in a hallway, and then basically ignored until midnight, at which point I told N. to go home, since it was clear that no one, including me, thought I was in any real danger. The night dragged on; there were several screaming children over the course of my stay, and I can barely even recreate how horrible it must be to be in screaming pain and too young to communicate about it. But at least the screaming covered up any snoring I engaged in as I dozed on my hallway bed. <br /> <br />I eventually got an ultrasound reading on my legs and (far later) a CAT scan with iodine contrast, pretty much the same diagnostics I got during my last embolism scare. There was absolutely no sign of unwanted clotting, so I was finally released around 5:30 AM on Thursday with a prescription of "take a lot of Naproxen right now and then a lot of ibuprofen over the next few days while the pain persists." <br /> <br />Lessons learned: <br /> <br />A) Steroid shots: don't just blindly accept them. <br />B) If possible, don't go to an ER in the evening. <br />C) If I think I have an embolism, tell them to do a full-body CAT rather than letting them waste time with an ultrasound. If there's a clot in my legs, the CAT will find it. <br />D) Bring a mass-market paperback rather than a heavy trade paperback. My left arm was very sore from the muscle problems, my right arm was sore from the IV, and my phone battery ran low long before I was sent home, so I had nothing to read for long periods.<br />E) Everyone should have a pussycat to keep them company. Oh, wait, I knew that one already.<br />F) I am so glad I have health insurance. I hate living in a country where that's an issue.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/327838.html"Still Alive", Jonathan Coulton & Sarah Gavin"Still Alive", Jonathan Coulton & Sarah Gavinstill somewhat sore, but betterpublic15http://womzilla.livejournal.com/327635.htmlSun, 07 Apr 2013 18:45:38 GMTFood at work: An IM exchangekjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/327635.html
Because of attrition at my office, I work some distance from anyone else on my floor. However, my cubicle is immediately adjacent to the door from the equities trading floor. So, every now and then, one or another trader will stop and look over the wall to find out what I'm eating that smells so damn delicious. <br /><br />Last week, after one particular trader had expressed delight in the smell of my fajita, I had this conversation with her over instant message: <br /><br /><blockquote><b>kjmaroney</b>: I realized today that the meals that I eat that are most likely to make you stop and say, "Wow, that smells good!"...<br /><b>kjmaroney</b>: are basically fried onions with hot sauce on them <br /><b>kjmaroney</b>: burrito/fajita bowl, greek truck gyro....<br /><b>jaci</b>: oh shoot thats true<br /><b>jaci</b>: i was going to say something w/hispanic flair<br /><b>jaci</b>: FRIED ONIONS AND MEAT AND HOT SAUCE<br /><b>kjmaroney</b>: sounds like the perfect meal, actually<br /><b>jaci</b>: w/some rice! mmmmm 100% agree<br /><b>kjmaroney</b>: Who should I talk to about doing an IPO for my new francise HOT MEATY ONION SHOPPE?<br /><b>jaci</b>: we should start a food truck just called 'MEAT WITH HEAT'<br /><b>jaci</b>: ticker MEAT<br /><b>kjmaroney</b>: I think that we've just written the only prospectus it needs<br /><b>jaci</b>: we're on to something here</blockquote>http://womzilla.livejournal.com/327635.html"Je Cherche un Homme", Eartha Kitt"Je Cherche un Homme", Eartha Kittnot hungry, but mmm, onionspublic3http://womzilla.livejournal.com/327243.htmlWed, 03 Apr 2013 02:38:29 GMTPrice points and comics Kickstarterskjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/327243.html
<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/serenaobhrai/join-elysia-on-her-journey" rel="nofollow">Here's a comics Kickstarter project</a> that showed up on <i>The Comics Beat</i> today. It looks like an interesting project-<a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/473/437/72b5893e32780b56fed5514b4d34e137_large.jpg?1364391873" rel="nofollow">-pretty colored pencil work</a> with <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/465/074/c212f0bc1b34b215a8171269c984885b_large.jpg?1364057992" rel="nofollow">a decent visual storytelling sense</a>. <br /> <br />I doubt I'll be backing it. <br /> <br />Most of the Kickstarter projects I back are games, comics, or books. The books and games I back are almost always competitively priced with professional publications--because a lot of them <b>are</b> professional publications, from established companies using KS as a risk mitigator, or from new companies that have really thought through the business implications. Books likewise. <br /> <br />Comics, though--it really seems like the prices are chosen by "I'd like to make $X on this comic, let's just set the price wherever we want and hope for the best." <br /> <br />I groused a few days ago about how overpriced many comics Kickstarters are. This one--<i>Elysia</i>--looks like a poster-child for that. #25 ($38) plus #8 ($12) shipping for a 100-page, magazine-format, paperback color GN? That's INSANE, even before you take into account the fact that the creators are receiving approximately 90% of the cover price as opposed to the 50-60% they'd be receiving if they went through a distributor--in other words, they're making as much per copy as if it were an $55 book. <br /> <br />I don't expect a small press to be able to compete with the economies of scale available to Image or Dark Horse, let alone Marvel or DC. But an original 100-page color GN from Dark Horse would cost in the $25-30 range, and they aren't getting paid up front! <br /> <br />How do these prices make any sense at all? <br /> <br />Well, as I write this, <i>Elysia</i> is about 75% of the way to funding. Only 112 people have backed packages that concentrate on the comics themselves; about half of the funds come from another 14 buyers who have backed packages that include custom art, original art, Tuckerization, or a full customized story. (This is the big Magilla--at #5000, this one customer constitutes one-third of the funding so far.) The low-end rewards are for digital editions, which come closer to reasonable pricing, at #10 ($15) for the 100-page first chapter. <br /><br />Maybe that's the problem? They're pricing the PDF high enough to not completely undercut the possibility of paper sales, but then they have to price the paper versions even higher because of the substantial printing costs, which leads to them leapfrogging themselves out of price competitiveness. But still, it's just too much money.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/327243.html"To The End of the Day", The Kinks"To The End of the Day", The Kinkstired and apparently a bit crankypublic0http://womzilla.livejournal.com/327006.htmlThu, 28 Mar 2013 19:26:36 GMTMy Time with Cookiekjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/327006.html
This is a story I've told orally many times, but it appears I've never written it down.<br /><br />From 1992 until 2001, I worked for <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20000815213429/http://www.crossover.com/" rel="nofollow">Crossover Technologies</a>, a small and never particularly successful games company--well, we did some other projects as well, but our core business was online games. From 1995 to 1997, I was the producer for our first web-based game, <i><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20000901025836/http://www.reinventing.com/" rel="nofollow">REINVENTING AMERICA</a></i>. <i>ReUS</i> was a massively multiplayer public policy game built around groups of people trying to influence the Congressional budget process. (Remember when America had a Congressional budget process? Truly, the mid-1990s were a lost golden age.)<br /><br /><i>Reinventing America</i> was funded by a public policy nonprofit called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markle_Foundation" rel="nofollow">The John and Mary Markle Foundation</a>. They were interested in all sorts of ways to harness emerging information technologies for good government/public good projects--one of their big initiatives in the previous year was a study of universal e-mail access. The president of the Markle Foundation at the time was a man named Lloyd Morrisett, a marvelously smart and charming gentleman in his mid-60s, tall, aristocratic--I've joked for years that he looked more like Julius Caesar than any person I've ever met.<br /><br />The Markle Foundation wasn't really Lloyd's claim to fame, though. 30 years earlier, he had the insight that his 3-year-old daughter might like to watch a funny, genuinely educational tv show, and he cofounded <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Television_Workshop" rel="nofollow">Children's Television Workshop</a>.<br /><br />On the set of CTW's first show, one of the things he was legendary for was his unerring instinct for when the dessert cart was going to show up, and making a beeline for the cookies.<br /><br />During the period I knew him, he had a sizable office in the Time-Warner Building; behind his desk was a mantel with a few of his many awards and honors. And in the absolute center, a 3" tall figurine of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookie_monster" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Cookie Monster</a>.<br /><br />When I moved to New York, it never occurred to me that I would end up working for a muppet. But I did, and it was an honor.<br /><br />Here's a recent photo of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Morrisett" rel="nofollow">Lloyd</a> and his greatest claim to immortality:<br /><br /><img alt="" border="0" title="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Lloyd_Morrisett_and_his_birthday_cupcakes.jpg/800px-Lloyd_Morrisett_and_his_birthday_cupcakes.jpg" width="600" /><br /><br />ETA: Lots o' links.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/327006.htmlpublic1http://womzilla.livejournal.com/326870.htmlSun, 17 Mar 2013 04:10:38 GMTDear Worldkjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/326870.html
Ten years have passed. <br /><br />For some reason, the rest of you have not united to kill America in our sleep for your own safety.<br /><br /> I can't understand why not. Thank you for your mercy; we don't deserve it.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/326870.html"Paris 1919", John Cale"Paris 1919", John Caleso, so sorrypublic1http://womzilla.livejournal.com/326408.htmlSun, 17 Feb 2013 17:49:08 GMTScience Fiction/fantasy/horror tribute volumeskjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/326408.html
I'm keeping a list of science fiction, fantasy, and/or horror "tribute" volumes--anthologies of stories in the style of, using the subject matter of, or just in honor of major figures in the field. I'll update this list whenever I come across new information. <br /><br /><ul><br /><li> Anderson, Poul. <i>Multiverse</i>. Greg Bear & Gardner Dozois, eds. 2013 (forthcoming). </li><br /><li> Asimov, Isaac. <i>Foundation's Friends</i>. Martin Harry Greenberg, ed. 1989. </li><br /><li> Barker, Clive. <i>Hellbound Hearts</i>. Paul Kane and Marie O'Regan, eds. 2009. </li><br /><li> Bradbury, Ray. <i>The Bradbury Chronicles</i>. Martin Harry Greenberg & William Nolan, eds. 1991. </li><br /><li> Bradbury, Ray. <i>Shadow Show</i>. Sam Weller & Mort Castle, eds. 2012. </li><br /><li> Burroughs, Edgar Rice. <i>Under the Moons of Mars</i>. John Joseph Adams, ed. 2012. </li><br /><li> de Camp, L. Sprague and Fletcher Pratt. <i>The Enchanter Reborn</i>. L. Sprague DeCamp and Christopher Stasheff, eds. 1992.</li><br /><li> de Camp, L. Sprague and Fletcher Pratt. <i>The Exotic Enchanter</i> L. Sprague DeCamp and Christopher Stasheff, eds. 1995.</li><br /><li> Dick, Philip K. <i>Welcome to Reality: The Nightmares of Philip K. Dick</i>. Uwe Anton, ed. 1991. </li><br /><li> Gaiman, Neil. <i>Sandman: Book of Dreams</i>. Neil Gaiman and Ed Kramer, eds. 1996. </li><br /><li> Howard, Robert E. <i>Cross-Plains Universe</i>*. Scott A. Cupp & Joe R. Lansdale, ed. 2006. </li><br /><li> Lovecraft, Howard P. <i>Lovecraft's Legacy</i>**. Robert Weinberg & Martin Harry Greenberg, ed. 1990. </li><br /><li> Lovecraft, Howard P. <i>New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos</i>. Ramsey Campbell, ed. 1980. </li><br /><li> Lovecraft, Howard P. <i>Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos</i>. August Derleth, ed. 1969; expanded edition, ed. James Turner, 1990. </li><br /><li> Matheson, Richard. <i>He Is Legend</i>. Christopher Conlon, ed. 2009. </li><br /><li> Moorcock, Michael. <i>Elric: Tales of the White Wolf</i>. Edward F. Kramer, ed. 1996. </li><br /><li> Pohl, Frederik. <i>Gateways</i>. Elizabeth Ann Hull, ed. 2010. </li><br /><li> Poe, Edgar Allan. <i>Poe</i>***. Ellen Datlow, ed. 2009. </li><br /><li> Smith, Clark Ashton. <i>The Last Continent: New Tales of Zothique</i>. John Pelan, ed. 1999. </li><br /><li> Tolkien, J. R. R. <i>After the King</i>. Martin Harry Greenberg & Jane Yolen, eds. 1991. </li><br /><li> Vance, Jack. <i>Songs of the Dying Earth</i>. George R. R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, ed. 2009. </li><br /><li> Zelazny, Roger. <i>Lord of the Fantastic</i>. Martin Harry Greenberg, ed. 1998. </li><br /></ul> <br />* There have been dozens of volumes of Conan stories, but this is the only collection I'm aware of that explicitly covers Howard's whole range of fiction. <br />**There have been dozens of volumes of Lovecraftian material; I'm not going to try to list them all.<br />*** Peter Straub's <i>Poe's Children</i>, published the same year (Poe's bicentennial), is deliberately not a collection of stories in the style of/subject matter of Poe, but instead reflects the ways in which horror has evolved from Poe's roots.<br /><br />I have not listed the Heinlein tribute <i>Requiem</i> or <i>The Worlds of Jack Williamson: A Centennial Tribute</i>, because they are not fiction collections. (The Heinlein does contain one unfortunate, previously published Larry Niven story.) I am also not listing most collections of stories featuring corporately owned characters (e.g., various superheroes, <i>Star Trek</i>, or <i>Star Wars</i>) or all the Sherlock Holmes collections. I'm also not including sharecroppings <strike>such as the 2 volumes of "Incomplete Enchanter" short stories edited by L. Sprague de Camp and Christopher Stasheff in the early 1990s</strike> the multi-volume <i>Man-Kzin Wars</i> series; those seem different in spirit from what I'm looking at. <br /><br />ETA: The line between "tribute to a living writer" and "sharecropped" is really blurry. I'm not sure there's any solid heuristic that would sort <i>Hellbound Hearts</i> or <i>Sandman: Book of Dreams</i> into the "tribute" bucket while labeling the de Camps as "sharecropped". So I've put the de Camps into the main list. <br /><br />I've said before that I seek out tribute albums, because a great tribute album combines several great virtues: enthusiasm, coherence, polysemy, and awareness of the traditions of genius. Most tribute albums fall short of the mark, but the best of them (notably <i>Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye</i>, in honor of Roky Erikson, and <i>I'm Your Fan</i>, in honor of Leonard Cohen) are among my favorite albums of all time. I love the idea.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/326408.html"I Do the Rock", Tim Curry"I Do the Rock", Tim Currytributarypublic1http://womzilla.livejournal.com/326277.htmlMon, 28 Jan 2013 01:22:12 GMTHugo Suggestions for Best Graphic Story, 2012kjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/326277.html
After reviewing the 1000+ comics I read last year, I came up with a score of works that struck me as exceptional and that meet the qualifications of being science fiction or fantasy stories which were completed in 2012. <br /><br /><ul><br /><li><i>Avengers Academy: Final Exam</i>, by Christos Gaga, Andrea DeVito, et al<br /><li><i>Batgirl: The Darkest Reflection</i>, by Gail Simone & Ardian Syaf <br /><li><i>The Boys: Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men</i>, by Garth Ennis and Darrick Robertson<br /><li><i>Bulletproof Coffin: Disinterred</i>, by David Hine and Shaky Kane<br /><li><i>Castle Waiting</i>, by Linda Medly<br /><li><i>Chew: Space Cakes</i>, by John Layman and Rob Guillory<br /><li><i>Crossed: Wish You Were Here</i>, by Si Spurrier and Javier Barreno<br /><li><i>Demon Knights: Seven Against the Dark</i>, by Paul Cornell and Diogenes Neves<br /><li><i>Everything Burns</i>, by Matt Fraction, Keirion Gillen, Alan David, et al<br /><li><i>Infernal Man-Thing: Screenplay of the Living Dead Man</i>, by Steve Gerber and Kevin Nowlan<br /><li><i>iZombie: Repossessed</i>, by Chris Roberson and Mike Allred<br /><li><i>Locke and Key: Clockworks</i>, by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodrigues<br /><li><i>Mind MGMT</i>, by Matt Kindt<br /><li><i>New Deadwardians</i>, by Dan Abnett and I. N. J. Culbard<br /><li><i>Prophet: Remission</i>, by Brandon Graham, Simon Roy, et al<br /><li><i>RASL</i>, by Jeff Smith<br /><li><i>Saucer Country: Run</i>, by Paul Cornell and Ryan Kelly<br /><li><i>Snarked</i>, by Roger Landridge<br /><li><i>Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the War of Words</i>, by Mike Carey and Peter Gross<br /><li><i>Valen the Outcast</i>, by Mark Alan Nelson and Matteo Scalera<br /></ul><br /><br />It was very difficult to select 5 finalists from this list, and if I did it again tomorrow, I would probably choose at least slightly differently. I will say I was biased towards works that will not get another shot at nomination next year.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/326277.html"Chiquinha (Jovino Dos Santos)", Cape Verde"Chiquinha (Jovino Dos Santos)", Cape Verdecomicalpublic4http://womzilla.livejournal.com/326006.htmlMon, 21 Jan 2013 20:47:44 GMTI know it doesn't work if you invoke it on purposekjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/326006.html
I would do a much better job of keeping up with my LJ friends if I could get friends-locked posts exposed to me, and only me, in Google Reader. However, there is apparently no way to get Livejournal RSS feeds to show friends-locked posts that doesn't involve creating a publicly accessible feed name with my LJ name and password embedded into it. <br /><br />(This is a deliberate invocation of <a href="http://alt.snail-mail.narkive.com/lGB98gAM/aahz-law" rel="nofollow">Aahz's Law</a>.)http://womzilla.livejournal.com/326006.htmlsome JoCo wafting in from nellorat's studysome JoCo wafting in from nellorat's studybehind on everythingpublic0http://womzilla.livejournal.com/325770.htmlSun, 02 Dec 2012 19:11:19 GMTMemory and Timekjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/325770.html
One of the pleasures of working on NYRSF is our weekly meetings, which are held at the offices of Tor Books in The Historic Flatiron Building^tm. A few months ago, I was walking down the hall and spotted Jim Frenkel, in for one of his quarterly visits from the wilds of Wisconsin, and we fell to talking. At one point, he mentioned that he had known one of his authors since before she was his assistant at Bluejay Books. We both laughed, because that was a <b>long</b> time ago--Bluejay lasted for about 3 years in the early 1980s, oh god, we're all so so old.<br /><br />Later he mentioned his wife, who is the legendary Joan Vinge. And I had a weird realization that in some part of my brain I still think of Joan as a &quot;new&quot; writer... because she was a hot new writer just as I was starting to read science fiction seriously, just under 40 years ago. The 3 Vs of the 1970s--Joan Vinge, John Varley, and Vonda McIntyre--will forever be in my brain as "those hot youngsters" purely by the accident of me discovering them just as their careers took hold. Writers who came into prominence later--the early '80s hotshot whipper-snappers like Connie Willis, Karen Joy Fowler, and the Ace Specials Musketeers of William Gibson, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Lucius Shepard--still have a faint glimmer of "aren't these guys pretty recent?" but by the time they came along, my brain had adapted to the idea that new writers were a part of the life of the field.<br /><br />Not sure if this has any significance beyond "Wow, memory plays many silly tricks with time." But, uh, memory plays many silly tricks with time.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/325770.html"We Will Rock You", Queen"We Will Rock You", Queensilly trickster, time is for kidspublic1http://womzilla.livejournal.com/325376.htmlTue, 27 Nov 2012 01:06:58 GMTEngineering in Liquid Formkjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/325376.html
A few years ago, I was driving home after my weekly trip to the recycling center. A large Dunkin Donuts iced coffee sat in the cup holder by my right hip, still mostly full. I cleared a small rise leading to an exit ramp and had to brake sharply on the downhill side because there was a surprising line of cars backed up waiting to exit. The coffee cup popped straight up, turned 180 degrees in mid air, and fell, lid-down in the front passenger footwell. <br /><br />The lid stayed on. A little coffee leaked out through the straw hole, but otherwise my car remained dry and not-coffee-scented. <br /><br />It took me many months to realize why this was so flabbergasting, beyond the general sense of relief that somehow the worst failed to happen. The tight seal between the lid and the cup is a triumph of engineering. Dunkin has engineered the cup so that its servers (they don't use the word "barrista") can add ice, sweetner, milk, flavor syrups, and whatever else to the coffee within the cup, put on the lid, and shake the mixture until well-blended. To find such good work in a 3-cent plastic cup that is literally designed to be thrown away is a testament to the fact that the cost of good design is generally negligible. But it was still a wonder to see it in action.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/325376.html"The Valley of Malls", Fountains of Wayne"The Valley of Malls", Fountains of Waynewonderingpublic0http://womzilla.livejournal.com/325234.htmlSat, 03 Nov 2012 02:58:17 GMTA potential crisis I didn't forsee (Sandy edition)kjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/325234.html
<a href="http://www.lohud.com/viewart/20121102/NEWS02/311020078/Gas-crunch-Rockland-sets-10-gallon-limit-more-fuel-expected-soon" rel="nofollow">Westchester County has basically run out of gasoline</a>, at least for private automobiles. <br /><br />There are two major causes: Many gas stations are still without power, so all of the gas in their tanks is inaccessible; and riverine deliveries to the main local transshipment point (Newburgh, NY, about 60 miles north of Yonkers) have been suspended for several days because of high water on the Hudson. The latter is expected to end tomorrow (Saturday) or early Sunday, but, as it says at the link, "It's not going to happen overnight, though. It'll take a couple of days." A third, minor, cause is increased consumption by portable generators and yard equipment, which at least has contributed to hoarding and overbuying. <br /><br /><span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " data-ljuser="supergee" lj:user="supergee" ><a href="http://supergee.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=143.8" /></a><a href="http://supergee.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>supergee</b></a></span> witnessed some of the lesser appalling gas lines at stations near our house. Another article mentioned a station in White Plains that had a line of cars a mile long waiting, and complaints of waits 2 or 3 hours in Yonkers were common on Twitter today.<br /><br />(My own experience with lines was limited to seeing a truly epic bus line in midtown Manhattan. It extended at least 2 blocks up Lexington before turning and running along 46th Street most of the way to the Park Avenue overpass--about 1/4 mile.) <br /><br />Compared to having one's car or home destroyed, this is still pretty minor stuff. But it's a real problem. Running out of gas is not a problem that one can get around with mere patience or determination (walking to the subway is really not an option), and I worry that <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " data-ljuser="nellorat" lj:user="nellorat" ><a href="http://nellorat.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=143.8" /></a><a href="http://nellorat.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>nellorat</b></a></span> will not be able to reach work on Sunday. Sigh.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/325234.html"Tiptoe Through the Tulips", Tiny Tim"Tiptoe Through the Tulips", Tiny Timdrainedpublic9http://womzilla.livejournal.com/324989.htmlTue, 30 Oct 2012 14:02:14 GMTLights are on, we're all homekjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/324989.html
We have power but no landline phone, cable tv, or broadband. My cell phone is still working and I've turned it into a wireless hotspot for the first time, so we have some access, but pretty limited bandwidth. <br /><br />No water came into the house, no branches, we were among the fortunate. <br /><br />If anyone needs to reach us, try my cell. Thanks.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/324989.html"Cue the Elephants", Bishop Allen"Cue the Elephants", Bishop Allenrelieved and adriftpublic7http://womzilla.livejournal.com/324654.htmlTue, 04 Sep 2012 03:22:35 GMTIt is an honor to be nominatedkjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/324654.html
Once again, <a href="http://www.nyrsf.org" rel="nofollow"><i>NYRSF</i></a> did not win the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine ; <i><a href="http://www.locusmag.com/" rel="nofollow">Locus</a></i> did. I was of course immediately disappointed, but very quickly realized how happy I was for them. Editor-in-chief Liza Groen Trombi, in her acceptance, pointed out that this was the first victory for <i>Locus</i> in which Charles Brown was not on the ballot. Thus, she and managing editor Kirsten Gong-Wong finally have a win all their own, which fills me with delight. This is also <i>Locus's</i> last year of eligibility; a new rule defining Professional Publication for purposes of both Semiprozine and Fanzine were ratified at this year's Worldcon, and under the new definition, <i>Locus</i> is unmistakably not eligible for either category, so if they were ever going to get the separate recognition they deserve, this was the year for it. <br /><br />I believe that when one is nominated for an award (that one cares about), one owes the award the courtesy of assuming one might win it. Thus, as I have for the last few years, I wrote an acceptance speech: <br /><br /><blockquote>Wow. Thank you all. I have a choice now between being a bit dry or being a complete wreck. So, dry.<br /><br />I hope you'll forgive me for running on--there are a lot of people who deserve thanks for this, and I've been waiting 15 years to do it.<br /><br />I have to thank all the people who worked directly on the magazine now: my co-editors David, Kris, and <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " data-ljuser="agrumer" lj:user="agrumer" ><a href="http://agrumer.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=143.8" /></a><a href="http://agrumer.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>agrumer</b></a></span>; our webmaster, Alex Donald; and our staff and crew, Jen Gunnels, Ann Crimmins, Eugene Reynolds, <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " data-ljuser="drcpunk" lj:user="drcpunk" ><a href="http://drcpunk.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=143.8" /></a><a href="http://drcpunk.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>drcpunk</b></a></span>, Heather Masri, A. P. Canavan, Anne Zanoni, M'jit Raindancer-Stahl, and Eugene Surowitz. Thanks to all those who have gone before us. And of course to all of our contributors, too, too many to list. It takes a lot of people to make a monthly magazine.<br /><br />I'd also like to thank the various members of the Semiprozine reform committee. Thank you also <a href="http://weightlessbooks.com" rel="nofollow">Weightless Books</a>, Gavin Mike & Kelly, for becoming our new home in the ebookosphere; you were the life preserver we so needed. <br /><br />Thanks to my father, John, whose bookshelves were my first and best library of sf; and to my brother, Tim, my first fannish model, who would pretend to be unimpressed by all this.<br /><br />And thanks, above all, to my wife, <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " data-ljuser="nellorat" lj:user="nellorat" ><a href="http://nellorat.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=143.8" /></a><a href="http://nellorat.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>nellorat</b></a></span>, and to my co-husband, <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " data-ljuser="supergee" lj:user="supergee" ><a href="http://supergee.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=143.8" /></a><a href="http://supergee.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>supergee</b></a></span>, for understanding exactly how important all this craziness is to me.</blockquote> <br /><br />On the bright side, in all of the other categories in which I could have an informed opinion, my preferred choice won. So, congratulations, <a href="http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/" rel="nofollow">SF Encyclopedia</a>, <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " data-ljuser="ursulav" lj:user="ursulav" ><a href="http://ursulav.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=143.8" /></a><a href="http://ursulav.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>ursulav</b></a></span>, <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " data-ljuser="catvalente" lj:user="catvalente" ><a href="http://catvalente.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=143.8" /></a><a href="http://catvalente.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>catvalente</b></a></span> & <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " data-ljuser="matociquala" lj:user="matociquala" ><a href="http://matociquala.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=143.8" /></a><a href="http://matociquala.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>matociquala</b></a></span> & all the other Squeecasters, and <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P " data-ljuser="papersky" lj:user="papersky" ><a href="http://papersky.livejournal.com/profile" target="_self" class="i-ljuser-profile" ><img class="i-ljuser-userhead" src="http://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userinfo.gif?v=17080?v=143.8" /></a><a href="http://papersky.livejournal.com/" class="i-ljuser-username" target="_self" ><b>papersky</b></a></span>! I bloody well told each of you that you would win, but you wouldn't believe me.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/324654.html"Sugar Sugar", Wilson Pickett"Sugar Sugar", Wilson Pickettrewardedpublic6http://womzilla.livejournal.com/324438.htmlMon, 27 Aug 2012 01:33:01 GMTA terminology quibble from the Readercon fiascokjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/324438.html
A "zero tolerance" policy and a "lifetime ban" are completely separate things. <br /><br />"Zero tolerance" is a type of enforcement--true "zero tolerance" means that if you break the rule, you will receive the punishment, no exceptions. "Lifetime ban" is a definition of a type punishment that is available for those who punish those who violate the policy. <br /><br />A zero-tolerance policy can have many levels of punishment, based on elements such as specific offense (a "zero-tolerance" rule against possessing weapons could still have different levels of punishment for carrying a knife vs. carrying a suitcase packed with explosives) or repeat offenses. "Zero tolerance" and "lifetime ban" aren't synonyms.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/324438.htmlpedantic, but not judgmental about itpublic55http://womzilla.livejournal.com/324248.htmlSat, 04 Aug 2012 21:49:01 GMTMaking a notekjm@panix.comhttp://womzilla.livejournal.com/324248.html
Marvel is about to quasi-reboot their line--the Marvel NOW project is a lot of cancellations and new #1s and a lot of shuffling of creative teams. (<a href="http://www.comicsbeat.com/2012/08/03/matt-fraction-joins-marvels-first-family-yknow-the-fantastic-four/" rel="nofollow">Matt Fraction writing <i>Fantastic Four</i></a>? Hells bells, of course I'll buy that.)<br /><br />I just want to note that right now I am buying 14 Marvel ongoing monthly titles. One of them has already been announced as ending with no replacement, Kieron Gillen's brilliant <i>Journey into Mystery</i>; others have been restarted with creative teams I'm not interested in following (Brubaker's <i>Captain America</i>, Fraction's <i>Mighty Thor</i>). I'll check back in January to see how many I'm buying then.<br /><br />I also note that right now I'm buying more DC main-imprint titles than I was before the "New 52" relaunch--18, up from 11 in August 2011--so it's quite <i>possible</i> I'll end up getting more Marvels after the relaunch; I just don't think it's likely. DC has actually shown some cleverness in recruiting new writers from the indies (Jeff Lemire, Josh Filakov), from outside comics (China Mieville), and getting good work out of writers who had been away (Paul Levitz, Marv Wolfman). I don't see Marvel doing that; almost all the writers who have been announced so far for Marvel NOW are already working for Marvel. (The one exception so far is screenwriter/comic actor Brian "Brian from <i>The Sarah Silverman Program</i>" Poesen for <i>Deadpool</i>, which is a great choice.)<br /><br />Anyway, as I said, just leaving a record.http://womzilla.livejournal.com/324248.html"Highway to Hell", AC/DC"Highway to Hell", AC/DCrecordedpublic2